A/N: Pokémon and all its related trademarks, including but not limited to Buizel, Prinplup, and Buneary, belong to their owners, none of which happens to be me. I own the identity of the Trainer and the personalities and names of his Pokémon.

For those of you who usually read my other Pokémon story—A Fear of Change—yes, there is a character in that story named Nathan, but the Nathan there and the Nathan here share no relationship other than the both of them being from Sinnoh.

This story originated out of one of those moods that you may or may not have experienced when playing Pokémon. I, at least, occasionally get so far into the game that I give all my Pokémon identities and personalities beyond the in-game natures. Such is the case with Zavier, here. I caught him around nine-thirty two nights ago, and like nearly all wild Pokémon he started off unsure whether he liked me (my Trainer) or not. This was confirmed after a visit to the Footprint Man just east of Pastoria City. I noticed that Zavier had a Gentle nature… and then this story bloomed.

I hope you enjoy, as cheesy and clichéd as it may be.

Trust

It was summertime, so even though the clock read nearly nine o'clock it was only starting to get dark outside. There was a peaceful silence in the twilight, broken occasionally by the sound of a Starly singing a few hesitant notes. The trees around Twinleaf Town all shook in unison as a breeze passed by; and then silence returned.

Nathan continued to repack his bag; several changes of clothes, plenty of food for both himself and his Pokémon, all the medicine…

He paused, not for the first time, as his eyes wandered over to the Great Ball sitting on the bed next to his bag. It remained dormant and still, despite the fact that it did in fact contain a Pokémon. There were five other Balls around his belt, all of them standard PokéBalls; but the Great Ball was all that mattered to him at the moment.

Most of the Pokémon Nathan had caught so far had been caught on the spur of the moment. Even his Prinplup, Atlantis, had been chosen because it was the first Ball he'd touched. There were very few Pokémon Nathan had set out knowing he wanted to catch; and Buizel was one of those.

"Go, Myan! Use Pound!"

"Bun! Buneaaaryyyy!"

The Buizel tumbled backwards, barely able to get back to its feet. Nathan thought he saw a flash of fear in its eyes, but didn't hesitate: he flung the Great Ball with all he had, and hoped it was enough.

"Nathan?"

He turned, surprised, to see his mother in the doorway.

"Honey, it's almost nine. Surely you're not thinking of leaving now?"

He opened his mouth to say something, then, seeing the somewhat hurt look in his mother's eyes, shut it again.

"What? Is something the matter, Nathan?"

He sighed, sat down on the bed, and grabbed the Great Ball, rolling it back and forth in his hands. "Well… I… I mean, I don't want to insult you. Of course family should come before Pokémon, but…"

The Ball stopped in his right hand, and he kept his eyes on it as he spoke.

"Well, I just caught this Buizel, Mom. You know how I've always wanted one…"

"Yes," she acknowledged, taking a seat on his bed on the other side of his bag.

"He's scared of me, Mom. He thinks I might hurt him, and he's so gentle, he wouldn't be able to attack me back."

"You wouldn't actually…?"

"No—of course not!" he exclaimed, the motion of his head turning sharply toward his mother making his scarf flutter. "But… I thought if we were to spend the night out at Lake Verity, just he and Atlantis and I… Maybe he'd warm up a little."

He toyed absently with his Pokétch after he'd finished speaking. There was an awkward silence, of a kind that he'd never experienced with his mother before. She seemed unsure of what to make of all of this; looking to make her understand, Nathan began to talk again.

"I mean… You've got Pokémon, Mom, and obviously they like you or you wouldn't have the reputation that you do. But they didn't all start out liking you, did they?"

"No," she admitted quietly.

"Then… You understand, right? I have to do this. I can't stand the idea that one of my Pokémon is afraid of me. It was bad enough with Myan—thank heaven for Amity Square…"

"I understand," she said. "But… What's this nonsense about putting Pokémon before family?" Nathan looked up in surprise to see his mother smiling faintly. "Pokémon are family, Nathan. And sometimes certain family members need more attention than others. Go, by all means, I'll watch over your other Pokémon tonight. I've got some accessory ideas for your Buneary anyway."

"Thanks, Mom!" Nathan exclaimed, leaping to his feet and giving her a massive hug, which she returned after a moment. A few minutes later he was racing out the door. Darkness had fallen almost completely by this point, but he knew the path by heart. Once he was within the boundaries of the Lakefront, he slowed, picked out a place to set up camp, and did so.

Zavier

Zavier shook himself off as he was released from the mind-numbing sphere. Once he was sure he had all his faculties back, he took a look around. There was a fire burning off to one side, and a strange, soft human structure in front of him.

The Buizel's ears twitched. Had he heard…water?

"Zavier," came Nathan's voice. He froze, flinching, still expecting something bad to happen; but when nothing did, he turned. The boy was sitting comfortably on the ground, his eyes just slightly higher than Zavier's. "Hey, guy." He extended a hand, which Zavier stared at warily for a minute but made no attempt to move toward or away from. Nathan dropped his hand, looking hurt.

'Where… are we?' asked Zavier after a moment.

"We're near my hometown. Hear the lake? We're right by a lake, Verity. I thought you might enjoy a swim."

The Buizel tilted his head, still staring uncertainly at the boy.

"It's nice, buddy. I've gone in several times before. In fact, I think Atlantis is in there right now."

Atlantis… the Prinplup. A little haughty, often pushy, but when it came down to it she was decent enough. And she seemed to trust Nathan.

'…What…about you?' he asked, gesturing at the Trainer.

"Me?" Nathan laughed a little. "I didn't bring anything to swim in, unfortunately. Besides, this is for you. You can have the whole lake more or less to yourself, if you want."

Zavier dropped to all fours and slunk over toward the sound of the water. He had to set his claws to avoid falling in—the bank was sheer and came out of nowhere in the darkness. He had thought it farther away, but then noticed that the surface of the lake barely rippled.

"Go on," encouraged Nathan behind him.

Zavier hesitated. Was this some kind of trap? Was he going to…?

He screeched and splayed his claws as he felt Nathan pick him up. His eyes were shut tight, and he curled into as small a shape as he possibly could. This was going to hurt, he knew it—

The water was pleasantly cool, not like the icy cold of the sea he was more used to. He felt Nathan release him, and his collar inflated out of instinct. He twitched his tail, rotated around to float on his back; he spied Nathan's silhouette against the fire, and he wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a faint smile on his Trainer's face.

'You going to swim, or just float there?'

Zavier started and spun again. Atlantis was floating easily in front of him, a glint of annoyance in her eyes.

'Oh…s-sorry,' he stammered. 'I didn't know I was in your way…' He drifted to the side, eliciting a satisfied chuckle from the Prinplup, who dove under and swam away.

He floated for awhile, enjoying the cool water. He dove under after several minutes, and just swam, in a way he hadn't swum in what felt like a long time. There were no currents here, no undertow, nothing threatening to drag him down if he made a mistake. It was peaceful here, almost as if the entire place where being watched over…

By the time he climbed out and shook himself off, the fire had gone out and Nathan was asleep inside the human structure; the entryway was half open, as though willing to let his Pokémon come and go. Atlantis was sitting half asleep, leaning against it.

'You…aren't going in?' Zavier asked hesitantly.

'Wha…? No. It's nice out,' declared Atlantis, stretching her flippers. 'Besides, it's you he left it open for.'

'Me?' The Buizel's eyes examined the opening.

'Yeah. This whole thing was for you, he said. He knows you don't really trust him, but he trusts you, and he'd like you to trust him.' She paused. 'He's not really that bad, you know. Decent, as humans go, though I don't think he gives me quite the attention I deserve.'

Zavier smiled slightly at her arrogance, but managed to hide it. Laughing at a Prinplup was unwise.

'…For me,' the Buizel reflected softly.

'Yeah. He took time out of his busy schedule just for you. Huh! He's never done something like this for me…'

The Prinplup continued to complain as Zavier wound his way into the structure. Nathan was asleep, having curled up his floppy hat to use as a pillow of sorts. Asleep, he looked so vulnerable—a display of trust.

Zavier's face scrunched up in thought. He'd gone to all this trouble…for him? Because he hadn't trusted humans?

Maybe the others were wrong. Maybe there were humans that were nice. Maybe…he could trust Nathan…

Nathan

When he woke up in the morning, awakened by the joyous sound of several Starly greeting the day all at once, Zavier was beside him. He looked more or less at ease; but it was his position that Nathan found interesting. He was laying face up, paws spread out. His neck, just below the inflatable collar, was exposed.

He'd left himself defenseless. He was showing trust.

Nathan smiled, uncurling and recurling his beret. He set his head back down upon it and drew a deep breath, deciding not to disturb the Buizel.

But as he fell half-asleep again he reached out and dragged Zavier close.

"Bui…?" he grunted, suddenly awake. Nathan felt him tense, and then he relaxed with a soft exhalation. "Buizel…"

Atlantis took a peek in, planning on berating Nathan for being such a sleepy-head. But she reconsidered when she saw boy and Buizel sleeping together, her beak half-open in a smile.

Where there had been fear, there was peace. Where there had been assumption, there was now truth.

Where in the darkness there had been mistrust, here in the dawn there was trust.

The Starly in the trees above, perhaps motivated by this silent display, seemed even more motivated than before. As the sun rose, there was a chorus of chirps, a celebration. It continued even after Nathan left. Lake Verity was left undisturbed, and life continued.

A/N: This is the kind of thing I wish you could do in the games. As it is, Pokémon gain trust by being with you, and being used in battles. The Colosseum games had the Scents, to be sure, but other than that, as oxymoronic as this sounds, trust in the Pokémon games has always seemed so impersonal to me.

Ah well…

I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are always nice. The next chapter of A Fear of Change is forthcoming, I promise, for those of you who care.